Man found guilty of capital murder in police officer's death

Officer fatally struck during high-speed chase

Lt. Stuart Alexander was killed March 11 after being struck by a sport utility vehicle.

Daniel Lee Lopez

CORPUS CHRISTI - A man convicted of capital murder Tuesday in the death of a police officer had other run-ins with the law including allegations he abused women, had sex with an underage runaway and made a makeshift handcuff key for a thwarted escape.

Jurors deliberated for four hours before finding Daniel Lee Lopez, 22, guilty in Lt. Stuart Alexander's March 11 death. Alexander was struck while trying to stop a fleeing SUV with spike strips off North Padre Island Drive near the Agnes Street exit.

Alexander's wife and son, nearly two dozen officers and other spectators packed into the courtroom to hear the jury's decision.

Besides capital murder, Lopez also was found guilty of nine other charges: five counts of attempted capital murder, assault on a public servant, attempted aggravated assault of a public servant, evading arrest and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

Lopez nodded his head and at times smiled faintly as the judge announced each guilty verdict.

Capital murder carries two punishment options — life in prison or the death penalty.

The testimony jurors heard Tuesday will help them decide his punishment. Testimony will continue Wednesday in 117th District Judge Sandra Watts' court.

Detective Bill Edge with the Nueces County Sheriff's Office said he found Lopez had written his name, a slang term for killer and a profanity-laced phrase against police on his cell walls in December.

Freddy Nunez, a former jailer, said that same month he found a makeshift handcuff key made from a paper clip in Lopez's shoe.

Nunez said Lopez smiled about it and said, "It's my handcuff key. How else do you think I'm going to get out of court?"

Juan Rodriguez Jr., another jailer, said Lopez once tried to tackle him when he opened Lopez's cell door.

But defense attorney Mark Woerner pointed out jailers never checked to see if the key actually would work. He also suggested Lopez may have rushed Rodriguez only to get the attention of a jail supervisor.

Rodriguez agreed it was possible and said that before the incident he had considered Lopez one of the more respectful and pleasant inmates.

Prosecutor Bill Ainsworth then sarcastically asked if Lopez may only have been trying to get a hug from Rodriguez, which drew laughter from jurors and spectators.

Prosecutors said they plan to call other witnesses to show Lopez has a violent streak.

One of those witnesses, Jessica Vela, the mother of two of Lopez's children, said he physically assaulted her several times. He once slapped her and once choked her while she was pregnant, she said.

Another time she said he held her down and threatened to shove a metal nail in her ear.

She pressed charges in that case, and he served time in jail.

The defense pointed out the children visited Lopez in jail a couple weeks ago and that he still stays in contact with Vela's mother.

On cross-examination, Vela said she hadn't wanted to deny her children the chance to see their father and admitted her time with Lopez hadn't been all bad. She said he had worked a couple jobs for a time including working at a fruit stand and at a fast-food restaurant.

She said he had also liked to bake, especially brownies.

"He baked better than I did," she said.

Lopez listened intently to Vela's testimony and that of a 17-year-old woman, who ran away from home three times in February 2009 and lived with Lopez.

She said they had sex about 10 times and that Lopez knew she was 16 at the time.

He smiled when she told jurors that she had liked living with him.

He faces 10 felony counts of sexual assault of a child and three misdemeanor counts of harboring a runaway child in that case.